So I was rather amused to get a phone call from my dad over the weekend. He was excited to tell me about this amazing discovery he made. Because of rising gas prices (yes, we all read and heard about how the average gas price in America is now over $4.00 per gallon), my dad decided to experiment. Instead of driving his usual L.A. style, he has been driving 65 miles per hour on freeways. He discovered by driving at the speed limit, he increased the fuel efficiency of his car (a Toyota van) by 20%.
I remember hearing about this at long time ago and decided to do a little research (umm, really google terms like "slow drive save gas"). And lo and behold, the first article I came across was back in 2006 by CNN. Basically, in order to significantly increase the fuel efficiency of your car, we need to drive slower and use less acceleration. No hard brakes or sudden acceleration. Using cruise control can help you.
Hmmm... so do I drive as I have always done (L.A. style ;) or start driving really slow? With gas prices what they are, I would like to start my own little experiment actually and hope whoever is reading this join me. Besides using the car less (obviously), if we all drive slower so that we increase the fuel efficiency of our cars, will the gas price go down? I would love to see if economics principles work -- less demand, lower price. Right? Here's to bringing down that gas price, abandoning L.A. driving style!
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